Player Evaluation (Brampton Hockey Inc.)

The Brampton Hockey Development committee with input from coaches, players and parents have created the following guide to help monitor and improve upon player hockey skills. The Hockey Skills Rubric can be very helpful for players, parents and coaches to assess skills, abilities and to record progress. By looking at a player’s rubric score we can quickly determine which areas need improvement and where a player excels.

Players are different and may develop some skills faster than others. Example a player may be rated (3) as a skater but may not progress as well at stick handling, receiving a (2) rating.

How long a player has been playing hockey, the level played, as well as age may affect a player’s development.

While it is important for parents to provide feedback to help their child develop, positive constructive feedback is the true motivator. It is helpful to include one specific example. Always avoid making negative comments about other teammates and coaches

Consider the examples below.

Positive Comment: I liked how well your team communicated and positioned themselves.

Positive Constructive Feedback: You guys had some great passes, it will be exciting to see how the team benefits when they start to use more bank passes.

Positive comment: Wow you skated really hard today.

Positive Constructive Feedback: Great job skating today. How do you think your scoring changes would have changed with more passing?

When observing your child’s performance during games and practices please refer to the following excerpts from Hockey Canada’s Player Evaluation handbook - Player Selection Criteria.

♦ Are the player's knees well bent with the back slightly forward and the head up, or is the player hunched over, bending at the waist with little knee bend?

♦ Good skaters will use long strides with a complete recovery of the stride leg before striding with the other leg. Their strides will look very smooth and appear not to require much effort to move around the ice?

♦ Does the player look smooth when they skate or do they appear off balance?

♦ Can the player turn in both directions with little trouble or do they struggle to turn in one or both directions?

♦ Can the player stop in both directions? Younger players will often have trouble stopping in one direction?

♦ Can the player keep up with the play or do they struggle to stay with the other players on the ice?

Passing

Passing, receiving, passing choices, on backhand, unselfish with the puck, presents a good target, receives and retains with control, touch passing.

♦ Can the player pass the puck to its intended target with minimal effort?

♦ Can the player make an accurate pass to a moving target?

♦ Can the player receive a pass on their backhand or do they tend to shift their body to receive the pass on the forehand?

♦ Can the player pass the puck off of the backhand with some speed and accuracy?

♦ Does the player call for the puck vs. banging their stick on the ice or saying nothing at all?

♦ Does the player passing the puck make eye contact with the intended receiver or do they just pass the puck blindly?

♦ Can the player execute a saucer pass over sticks and other obstacles?

♦ Can the player pass the puck off of the boards to another player?

Puck Control

Head ups, smooth and quiet, good hands, protection, in small spaces, in traffic.

♦ Does the player have the basic skills to execute a forehand pass?

♦ When the player passes the puck do they slap at it or is the motion smooth with the player following through to the intended target?

♦ Does the player appear to be comfortable handling the puck while skating or do they appear to fight the puck and have trouble skating with some speed while handling it?

♦ Can the player keep his/her head up while carrying the puck?

♦ Can they execute dekes and fakes with the puck?

♦ Can't they stop quickly or change directions while handling the puck?

♦ Can the player continue to handle the puck while in traffic and under pressure?